Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Eee is 225/165/35 mm, so few mm smaller but thicker on battery side than Cloudbook with 230/171/30 mm. Cloudbook weighs just a little bit more being 950g where Eee is 920g. As the screen (7" 800 x 480) and the keyboard are the same there isn't much difference. Both are extremely small and light.

Differences stars to appear when looking at the keyboard and mouse positioning. On Eee PC the keyboard is further back, giving room for bigger mouse pad, buttons and wrist rest area. Cloudbooks keyboard is more front, lacking wrist rest. Smaller mouse pad is on the top right side of the keyboard and mouse buttons are on the top left side. Cloudbooks mouse placement is designed for 2 handed use, with the possibility to "use while walking". Where Eee PCs mouse is easy to adopt, Cloudbook mouse can be awkward to some.

Comparing ports of both devices, you can see Eee PC with 3 x usb, VGA out, SD, ethernet and audio ports where Cloudbook has 2 x usb, DVI out, SD/MMC, ethernet and audio ports. Not much difference again. Both have basic webcam, speakers and mic.Both have wifi, but Eee PC has stronger/better signal strenght.

Here is a short video showing the the ports, keyboard and mouse

Let's check the internal features.

Asus Eee PC has 900MHz Intel Celeron (running 630MHz), Intel GMA 900 and 512MB RAM (MAX 2GB)Everex Cloudbook uses 1.2GHz VIA, VIA UniChrome Graphics and 512MB RAM (MAX 1GB)As I have used both platforms daily I can compare them easily. Cloudbook is a bit faster on processor but Eee PC wins on graphics side. If you upgrade Eee with 1GB or 2GB RAM, it is overall faster. Updating Cloudbook is not easy as you can't access RAM module without taking it apart.

Even though the Eee PC has better graphics performance, it's not as good for videos, if you need to store them locally. Eee has far less storage space, 2GB/4GB or 8GB depending on model, where Cloudbook has 30GB. But there is a difference on the storage media too. Eee uses SSD ( Solid State Drive ) which is very durable and fast flash memory. The 30GB drive on Cloudbook is conventional 1.8" hd which can be broken easily if it's dropped while spinning. Both devices have a slot for SD cards, so expanding the storage is easy.

What about battery life..

Everex is telling us that Cloubbook has 5 hour battery life with it's 4 cell battery. We know it's not true in real life. Testing on sister models (Easynote/Nanobook/Etc) and on other devices using same hardware indicates 3.5 hours on normal use.

Asus has listed 3.5 hours for 4G and 8G models and 2.8 hours for surf/2G models. In normal use those figures are what you would get.

Asus will also sell a 6 cell battery which would give about 5.5 hours/charge. That battery will make Eee only 10mm bigger so it would be a good buy for someone needing better battery life.

Software/operating systems

They both have their own version of Linux with many applications. I can't really compare those as Cloudbooks final version is not public yet. My experience with Eees Xandros build is very positive.

You can install different Linux builds on both and you could install XP on both devices, all drivers are available. As there is bigger hd on Cloudbook, you could even have Vista on it, but with 512MB RAM, it would be very slow.

Bottom line

So which one to buy?

If you need more storage and you can live with that mouse, the Cloudbook could be better..

If you like different colors, better design and feel, Eee PC is for you.

You need DVI and don't want to use dongles, take Cloudbook.

If you want durable SSD and you are ok using SD for storage ( or paying 499 for 8G ) you should shoose Eee PC

If you don't care about storage and just wan't small and cheap, Asus Eee 2g is the cheapest. ( $299 )

If you are thinking having XP on it (without any tweeking), choose Cloudbook or Eee PC 8G.

I chose Eee for it's durable SSD and better looks/feel.

There is also one really important factor: Eee PC community is HUGE. You can get help really easily. New apps, tips and how-to pages are everywhere. Cloudbook will get it's own community too, but it will never be as big.

No matter which one you get, you will enjoy the new feeling of mobile computing, without paying a lot!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

They are also working on reducing thickness and weight, battery life and video performance.

Menlow??

I just hope they have HSDPA too... and better pricing!

UPDATE: Dennis Moore, CEO

I was hoping not to have to reply to this or the other thread on the same topic. Unfortunately, there is so much traffic on the two that I feel compelled. I am thrilled that there is so much interest in our future products, and I hope you will find them to be exciting and desirable.

Here are some truths:

1. OQO would never disclose future product information in other than broad terms, but I can disclose that statements in the video are not true about when certain features will ship (if ever). I assume I could face legal liabilities of some kind if this is a false statement, so I hope you can trust me that the claims about future product features in this video and other versions on the Web are just not true. Certainly, we are always working to design and engineer improvements in our products, manufacturing, and services, including working on ways to optimize the hardware, software, and services we offer.

2. The person in the video is no longer an OQO employee as of the end of the week when the video was filmed, had resigned prior to filming this video, and was no longer with the company when I first saw the video on tkarena.

3. I am disappointed at the misinformation in the video. These misstatements should not have been made. Misstatements are a violation of our values as a company, and a violation of the trust of our customers (who may rely on these statements). Obviously, the individual in this video was not authorized to say anything about future products, particularly statements that are not true (although I suppose it might have been worse if the statements were disclosing our future product plans, because a denial in those circumstances would not be possible). As to my feelings when I saw the video initially -- well, how would you feel in the same circumstances? I'm glad I was at home, so people at work did not see my reaction.

We are contacting each of the sites where this video is or was available, to let them know that the statements made in the video are untrue, and to ask each site to take down the video as such misstatements benefits no one. In fact, when we do not ship products with the features mentioned in the video on the timelines mentioned in the video (and we won't!), we will probably face individuals claiming that we are failing to deliver on our product roadmap.

Obviously, I am asking our community to trust me. You will be able to gauge, as time passes, whether I am telling the truth about our future products. For those who have seen my interactions in the community, I hope I have earned your trust with my actions.

I'm very sorry that these misstatements were created and propagated. I will do what I can to make sure these misstatements are removed from the web sites where they have been posted, as they can cause irreparable harm to our business (lost sales, harmed reputation).

I appreciate all the interest in the community regarding our future products, and I appreciate all the feedback in this forum about the features suggested -- this will help us craft our actual product roadmap.

Thanks so much for your trust, and for participating in this community!

Friday, January 18, 2008

Continue reading..Plan is to have touch screens on the next generation 9 inch models later this year, but as Asus is allready selling multiple models, I would like to see it as an option in all models. It is just so much easier and fun to use.

On volume production it would only add 15 dollars to the cost. I payed about 60 dollars and some hard work, but it's worth it!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

"The GTM501 Embedded module is a radical evolution of Option modules especially developed for Ultra-Mobile PC and Mobile Internet Devices. Delivered in a LGA package, the GTM501 is the world smallest HSPA module."